ment the anhinga understood the reason for her sudden change of direction.
Down the middle of the water lane the grim monarch of the lagoon was coming. No 'gators of the largest size lived in or visited Anhinga Town because this lagoon was not a large one and its waters were generally shallow. Hence the eight-foot saurian now approaching, his long head and four feet of his jagged back showing, lorded it over all the other denizens of the bird city who lived on or in the water under the homes of the snakebirds and herons.
The king of the lagoon either did not see or took little interest in the wood duck family who had so hastily removed themselves from his path. He came on slowly and with dignity down the water lane to the opening in the flooded woods, turned slightly to the left, forged through the lily pads and duckweed like a half-submerged submarine, and came to rest in a shallow place near the shore where the sunny water was very warm. Sinking a little deeper, he lay motionless, scarcely distinguishable from the three or four logs in the water near him.
He had been lying there, utterly still, for nearly half an hour when a crashing roar like a clap of thunder shook Anhinga Town. For a moment even the din of the young herons was hushed, only to break out again more loudly than ever as the fright-
